Sounds like you might need to change the bait on some of your plot-hooks.

Session 8 - Cast of Characters

Al Truism - human controller wizard
Leigh - eladrin battle wizard
Merend - dwarven devoted cleric
Rhogar - dragonborn protecting paladin
Sa-ika - genasi shielding swordmage
Krolec Jar'bin - elven two-blade ranger

and special guest stars:
Mitka Karamazov - halfling cutthroat rogue
Scrag Graveborn - half-orc earth warden

Session 8 - Scene 1 (of 4)

Wanting to make sure the group isn't flanked by anything else, Mitka and Zena head off to the north and south, respectively, to scout out the area while Krolec leads the rest of the group west towards the cemetery.  As they travel, Krolec and Merend get curious about what anyone knows about the cemetery area.  They want to get an idea of how big of a potential problem they will have in clearing the area out.

Both Al and Leigh are knowledgeable about the general history of the area.  The inner cemetery was originally used to hold the crypts of the noble dead who lived in Moonstone Keep.  Later on, barrows expanded out around the cemetery to contain the dead of other noble families who lived in Fallcrest.  But over time, the practice stopped, and the cemetery became overgrown.

Many years later, a second graveyard was formed outside of the main cemetery walls.  This held the graves, often mass graves, of those who fell to the great Owlbear Flu plague a couple of hundred years ago, along with the construction of a few special crypts for a few of the local honored dead who died during the wars during that period.  The area was never used after that, for it was said to be haunted.

As Krolec is discussing the history with Leigh, Sa-ika spots some smoke up ahead, apparently coming from a small fire.  She and Krolec decide to sneak in and see what the source of the smoke is.

Up ahead in a clearing, they spot a large half-orc man using his battle axe to chop up the remains of what appear to have been zombies, and tossing the remains into a fire.  Nearby is a small wooden shack.  The man appears to live in these woods.

Krolec decides that he and Sa-ika should step out and introduce themselves.  The half-orc identifies himself as Scrag Graveborn.  Scrag explains that he is a recluse who pretty much has stayed in the woods for most of his life.

When he was a young boy, back too far to really remember clearly, Scrag's mother took him out into the Tombwoods and abandoned him.  Scrag would have been killed by the zombies infesting the woods, if not for protection by the earth spirits.  Since then, he has become a warden and defender of the Tombwoods area.  He works to try and clear out the zombies from the woods, making sure none of them make it out into the city.  He avoids the cemetery area completely, as it is too dangerous and filled with undead.

Krolec explains that he and Sa-ika are part of a larger group trying to make their way to the cemetery, both to return with a sketch of the statues at the Relcoff tomb, but also to clear out the area of undead.  Krolec asks Scrag if he would like to join them.  Scrag explains that he'd be happy to join; he's always wanted to clear out the undead, but by himself he could never manage it.

Scrag remarks his surprise at seeing people in the woods so frequently, lately.  Usually, no one enters the woods, but he mentions that it was only a couple of weeks ago he saw two other men enter the area.  They didn't appear to be together, but did enter around the same time.  One looked to be a petty thief, the other was a normal looking middle-aged man except for his cloak with the shiny purple lining.

Krolec probes for a more detailed description of the thief, and quickly realizes the man Scrag saw was Pace, the thief they fished out of the sewers.  Furthermore, the other man was obviously the mysterious man in the purple cloak that the group has been trying to find.  Krolec decides the best thing to do is get everyone back together and share the information.

Rhogar and Merend make conversation with Scrag.  Merend feels a bond because they were both abandoned by their parents (though Merend is relieved that at least his parents dropped him off at the temple, and not in the undead filled woods).  Rhogar is amazed at Scrag's reclusive nature, and how he never travels outside of the woods (even his weapons and armor appear to come from the bodies of the dead he has found).

Around this time, Mitka shows back up and reports that he hasn't found anything.  As the group explains Scrag's story about Pace and the man in the purple cloak, Mitka remembers the diary entry and wonders how the pieces all fit.

Zena, however, does not return from her scouting mission.  Krolec decides the group should continue to move out without her, and let her catch up.

Session 8 - Scene 2 (of 4)

As the group nears the cemetery, the forest begins to clear.  They begins to see the overgrown area that was once cleared for the graves of the plague victims.  Along the path they can see pieces of long-broken tombstones and graves that appear to have been dug out from below.  Several partially unearthed pits of mass graves can also be spotted.

As they walk along, Krolec suddenly feels something try to grab at his leg.  It is a skeletal hand reaching out from the ground; the rest of it still buried below.  Krolec quickly hacks off the arm with his sword.  He tries to get the group to proceed, but Al and Merend are convinced it makes more sense to dig up the skeleton and make sure it is destroyed.  Reluctantly agreeing, Krolec joins in and they quickly reduce the skeleton to dust.

Heading on, the path leads up to a set of three tombs.  The first appears to have a partially caved in wall and a door partially off its hinge.  Looking through the crack of the off-hinged door, Merend can see light shining in and a blank crypt wall, but nothing more.  Still, he feels an unnatural warmth from the light shining into the tomb.  He is fairly certain it is a sign from Bahamut telling them to go in.

Leigh wants to examine the tomb itself first.  She finds an inscription over the doorway, "Here Rests in Honored Glory, A Dwarf Warrior who fell in the Battle of Challons, Known Only to the Gods".  Leigh recognizes this as the "Tomb of the Unknown Dwarf", the resting place of a great hero who led the Nentir Empire to victory in the Minotaur Wars.

Scrag decides to go ahead and open the door.  It is rusted and stuck pretty good, but no match for his powerful strength.  Inside is a crypt with a statue of a dwarf over it.  And sitting on it is a suit of dwarf-sized chain mail armor, illuminated by the sun.

At first, Merend believes they should leave the tomb alone and not defile it by taking the armor.  But as he looks at the armor, he notices the sunlight is reflecting off of a symbol of Bahamut carved into the armor.  Merend prays for guidance, and becomes convinced that Bahamut is trying to tell him that the best way to honor the dwarf's memory is to take the armor and use it to restore the sanctity of the cemetery and the Tombwoods.

Everyone leaves Merend alone to meditate and to change into the armor.  As an offering to Bahamut, Merend leaves his own armor.  Rhogar then joins him for some final prayers to their god before they re-seal the tomb.

Session 8 - Scene 3 (of 4)

Krolec directs Mitka to check out the other two tombs.  They are found to be locked, and Mitka does not detect any traps on the doors.  They do, however, appear to have been used more recently.  Certainly within the last year or so.

Leigh reads the inscription on this tomb as well.  It is apparently the grave site of a wizard named Kaythlar.  Al cautions about the door being magically locked, but Leigh detects no enchantments on the door.

Mitka uses his tools and picks the door's lock.  Cracking it open a little, he can see nothing inside the pitch black tomb.  Al grabs a rock on the ground and enchants it to glow with a soft light.  He tosses it into the tomb.  Leigh follows his lead and does the same.

The inside of the tomb can now be seen.  The fairly decomposed bodies of two men appear to be lying in different parts of the tomb.  Otherwise, the room appears to be empty except for a staircase at the far end, leading down into darkness.

Krolec, Scrag, and Sa-ika begin to move in.  Krolec approaches the closest body and prods it with his sword to make sure it isn't undead.  The body appears to be nothing more than a standard corpse, at least a year or two old.

Just then, a large blade swings down from the ceiling, passing right in front of Krolec.  It cuts through the corpse, and Krolec notices the body has obviously been cut by the blade before.  Realizing the room is trapped, he alerts everyone.

Al decides to head inside while Rhogar Mitka, and Leigh stay outside, guarding the rear.

Back inside, Scrag has moved over to the stairway beyond the room while Sa-ika observes another blade swinging on the other side of the room.  Scrag looks down to see the stairs end in a set of double-doors.  Up where he is, he spots some kind of panel built into the wall.  It opens up to what appears to be a set of switches and gears.

Scrag decides not to mess with it and wait for Mitka, who is trained how to disable these kind of things.  Krolec notices the slots in the ceiling allow for at least eight blades.  It looks like nowhere in the room is particularly safe except for the stairs.  He and Sa-ika quickly head in that direction.

Meanwhile, Mitka is having doubts about entering the tomb.  He doesn't particularly want to risk getting hit by the blades while getting over to the stairs.  Seeing that the blades initially didn't go all the way down to the ground, he and Al drop prone, and Mitka begins crawling towards the stairway.

However, the blades drop lower each time.  And the next blade happens to cut right into Al, injuring him badly.  Al, however, elects to stay put until Mitka gets over to disable the blades.

After a few tense moments, Mitka makes his way over to the panel and quickly disables the trap.  Everyone enters the tomb and prepares to see what new threats await them down the stairs.

Session 8 - Scene 4 (of 4)

Mitka warns everyone to stand back and they head back up the stairs.  He is concerned about the door being trapped.  Finding no traps, and the door unlocked, Mitka attempts to listen behind the door, but hears nothing.  

Krolec heads down to help, and notes that he hears shuffling and other movement behind the door.  There are definitely things moving down there.  Krolec heads back up the stairs while Mitka cracks open the door a little to get a better listen.  But he hears the same general sounds of movement.

While the others debate plans for how to best deal with the crypt, Scrag decides he doesn't want to wait around.  Before anyone can react, he heads down the stairs and throws the doors open.  There isn't much light in the tomb, but using his low-light vision, Scrag is able to make out two ghouls, three zombies, and a skeletal warrior heading towards him.

The skeletal warrior slices into Scrag with his longsword while two arrows also fly out from the darkness beyond.  One of the arrows hits Scrag in the shoulder.

Al illuminates another stone and tosses it down into the lower level, revealing the dangerous group of creatures to everyone.  Mitka immediately runs up the steps and continues all the way to the main door of the tomb.

The two ghouls move in to attack with their claws, scoring another damaging hit on Scrag.  Scrag then finds himself paralyzed by the ghoul hits, unable to move.

Sa-ika moves in to where Mitka used to be standing, and attacks with her swordburst, damaging the skeleton.  Up at the top of the stairs, Krolec uses his bow to fire off two arrows at one of the ghouls, but misses his mark.

Rhogar decides to charge in.  Rushing past the immobilized Scrag, he slams into the skeleton, pushing him back.  Leigh assists by firing a scorching burst that hits the skeleton and a couple of the zombies.

Unfortunately, this move also puts Rhogar in the middle of many combatants.  The zombies quickly pound away at him, scoring damaging blows.  Al tries to help by blasting one of the ghouls with his phantom bolt spell.

Back at the front of the tomb, Mitka finds himself alone in the darkness, except for the light coming in from the open door.  He decides not to risk anything coming in to the tomb from behind them, and closes the door.

Back down below, Rhogar is struck by the ghouls and paralyzed.  Merend tries to help with a blast of flame, but misses.  Sa-ika strikes away with a series of two powerful sword bursts while Krolec manages to miss again with two more arrow shots.

Leigh lets loose with another scorching burst, this time taking out one of the zombies with it.  However, the remaining two zombies strike out, injuring Sa-ika and knocking a bloody Rhogar unconscious.  The skeleton follows up with another injuring hit on Sa-ika.

Seeing the situation is rapidly becoming more dangerous, Scrag uses his powers to transform into his aspect of panther form.  He charges in and heavily injures one of the ghouls.  He attempts to follow up with a thunder ram attack, but misses.

Next to him, the other ghoul is still focused on Rhogar.  It bites down on his unconscious head, ripping it open and eating his brains.  Everyone is shocked with horror at the loss of their comrade.

Merend uses his remaining healing powers to heal the seriously injured Sa-ika, since Rhogar is now beyond his powers to save.  Krolec is so overcome with shock, he misses again with a series of three arrow shots.  Sa-ika strategically falls back, trying to get Scrag to do the same so they can draw out the enemies to a more advantageous spot.  But Scrag isn't interested in tactics, and slams into the ghoul again with his axe.

Up at the top of the stairs, Leigh fires off an acid bolt that destroys the ghoul eating Rhogar's remains, and splashing the zombie behind him.  Both the ghoul and Rhogar quickly melt into a pile of goo.  The acid continues to burn away at the zombie, finishing it off just before it can launch an attack at Sa-ika.

Al launches another phantom bolt, this time at the skeleton.  The bolt destroys it.  Krolec is so rallied by the change in fortunes, he hits with his next two shots against the ghoul while Leigh blasts a zombie with her magic missile.

Mitka moves away from the darkness and gets somewhere close enough to be in part of the light up near the top of the stairs, but makes sure to stay far enough away to stay out of danger.  As the others continue to fight, he holds back, guarding the rear.

Al decides to take a new tactic.  He casts a guardian blades spell on himself, then rushes past Sa-ika and the zombie.  As the zombie takes the opportunity to attack Al, it takes damage from the blades, and Al's gambit pays off.  Except for the fact that the zombie hits him twice as hard as it was injured by the blades.

Scrag is then hit by the ghoul again, once again paralyzing him.  Merend attempts to use his powers to drive back the undead, but fails.  As does Krolec, who misses yet again with more arrow shots.

Sa-ika, however, has more luck.  She blasts her attacker with a lighting clash, downing the zombie.  Just afterwards, arrows fly out from the darkness, striking her.

Leigh attempts to hit the remaining ghoul with a magic missile, but misses.  Al decides to move further into the tomb, illuminating a section of wall.  Behind the crypt area appear to be two skeletal archers.

Mitka finally decides to move in and assist the others, now that he has a chance to potentially flank.  He runs down the stairs and attacks the ghoul, but misses with his strike.

Sa-ika then uses her whirling blade power.  She launches it at the ghoul first, but misses.  However, the blade then hits home on one of the skeletal archers, destroying it.

The others have no better luck fighting the ghoul.  Scrag, Leigh, and Krolec all miss with their attacks.  Finally, Mitka springs forward with an acrobatic strike that finds its way home into the ghoul's skull, killing it.  Al then finishes off the remaining skeletal archer with a phantom bolt.

Hoping to find something worth all of their effort, the group decides to open the wizard's crypt.  Inside is a magic staff (identified by Leigh as a Staff of the War Mage) and a magic amulet around the corpse's neck (identified by Al as a Amulet of Health).  Mitka also discovers a hidden panel inside, revealing Kaythlar's ritual book, which Leigh quickly takes possession of.

With one member dead and everyone else quite battered and exhausted, the group decides to close themselves up in the tomb for the rest of the day and night, so that they have a chance to recover.

Session 8 - Session Notes

So, this session we had our first death.  Poor Rhogar.  He could be pretty powerful, but Paladins are on the weaker end of the defenders and he just couldn't withstand that much punishment.

Overall, this session had the toughest fight ever for the PCs.  The ghouls were pretty much the limit of what they could effectively fight, and there was a nasty combination of bad tactics and truly terrible die rolls.  Plus, the group was going into the battle unfresh for once.

The outlying graveyard area with the three tombs is pretty much taken out of the Open Grave encounter.  Except that I added the Tomb of the Unknown Dwarf (obviously inspired by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington) for the empty crypt, added a trap to the middle crypt's upper level (we haven't really had a trap yet, and I wanted to give the rogue something rough-ish to do), and beefed up the encounter in the lower part of the crypt (more creatures and more treasure).

I also added the whole Owlbear Flu story as an obvious joke because of all the Swine Flu scare these days.

Scrag was our new drop-in for this session, played by the kid who used played several characters in the Rifts campaign.  He was originally going to be a regular in the game, but being a teenager and getting interested in teenage stuff (including fighting with his dad, the Merend player) prevented that from happening.

I created the Scrag character myself (as I do with most of the drop-ins).  I purposely made his background overly sympathetic as an excuse for the group to quickly trust him.  Plus, I just thought the idea fit in with what was currently going on really well.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of drama this session.  I was expecting one of the players to be upset over recent personal issues she mentioned, but nothing happened to disrupt the game there.  And the guy who was getting those sexual harrassment charges got that mess all dropped (still no clue what the complaining guy's issue was).  Now I got the one guy in the group (who is friends with both) telling me its ok to invite that guy to play again.  I responded that we should let things cool off for a while more, just to be safe.

One downside was the combat at the end was really, really long.  People were rolling terribly, causing it to drag out.  Plus, the tactics left some people with not a lot to do because they couldn't get to any enemies.  That, and D&D combat does just take a long time, particularly with a group of 8 people.

Next session should see more exploration of the cemetery, but I can see this easily taking 4-5 more sessions to get through at this rate.

Session 9 - Cast of Characters

Al Truism - human controller wizard
Leigh - eladrin battle wizard
Merend - dwarven devoted cleric
Rhogar - dragonborn protecting paladin
Sa-ika - genasi shielding swordmage

and special guest stars:
Mitka Karamazov - halfling cutthroat rogue
Silas Ballard - human pursuing avenger

Session 9 - Scene 1 (of 5)

After a (thankfully) uneventful night sealed up in the crypt, the group prepares to move out the next morning.  Merend decides to let Leigh have the Staff of the War Mage, and it is decided that the Amulet of Health would be most beneficial to Mitka.  They plan to head back into town and see what they can do to get Rhogar resurrected.

Scrag, being a recluse, does not want to go into town.  He elects to stay behind and burn the corpses of the undead they killed.  Krolec decides to stay behind to help him, and to locate the missing Zena.  
The rest of the group collects what they can of Rhogar – part of a skull and his spine – and throw it in a sack.  They also recover his Belt of Vigor and 40 gold pieces from out of the goo.  They then head into town, heading straight for the House of the Sun.

Once they arrive at the temple, Merend explains to Grundelmar about his experience in the tomb with the armor of the Unknown Dwarf.  Grundelmar agrees it was a sign from Bahamut, and it is an important signal to Merend from the gods that they have work for him to do.

Merend then shows Grundelmar the sack of Rhogar's remains.  Grundelmar is uncharacteristically moved by the plight of Rhogar.  He explains to Merend that he'd like to help, but he lacks the power to raise the dead.

Instead, Grundelmar suggests they go to the Temple of Erathis, the only one big enough in the city to have a priest powerful enough to perform a resurrection ceremony.  To help defray the expensive costs normally associated with such an event, Grundelmar writes a letter asking them to perform the ceremony "at cost" as a favor.  Of course, that would still be far more money than the group currently has, but Merend is not discouraged.

Merend also asks Grundelmar for help replacing Rhogar's weapons and armor.  Grundelmar agrees to write a second note to Teldorath.  Since he is a fellow dwarf, he should be able to give them a decent discount for this one special occasion.

Session 9 - Scene 2 (of 5)

At the Temple of Erathis, Merend is greeted by an attendant who shows the group into a waiting room.  Merend hands him the letter, and he goes off to summon the high priestess of the temple.  Moments later, the high priestess emerges, and introduces herself as Dirina Mornbrow.  Merend discusses their situation, and Dirina, impressed with their good deed of ridding the city of undead, agrees to perform the ritual in exchange for 150 gold plus a quest the temple needs help with.

Dirina whispers over to an attendant.  Mitka moves in slightly so he can overhear her.  She whispers, "Go get Silas."  A moment later, the attendant returns with a man dressed in leather armor with a sword at his side.  Dirina introduces him as Silas Ballard, an avenger of Erathis.

Dirina goes on to explain that one of their priests, a man named Derris, recently led a pilgrimage of followers out to the Old Hills area to visit the Cave of the Three Brothers.  Leigh knows from her knowledge of history that the Cave of the Three Brothers is an ancient cave that was home to the Hill People.  It is famous for its primitive cave drawings, and named after the three sons of Count Begnaud, who discovered it hundreds of years ago.  

Father Derris and the pilgrims have not returned from their journey, and are nearly a week overdue.  
Dirina fears they may have fallen prey to one of the hobgoblin groups active in the area.  The temple was going to send out Silas to look for them, and now wants the group to assist him.  Because Silas will be with them, Dirina agrees to resurrect Rhogar prior to them completing the quest.

Merend talks briefly with Silas.  Silas explains he already has a map of the area and a route planned out.  The cave is around eight miles inside of the hills area.  Merend is impressed with his preparedness.  The entire mission should take around three days – one day to get to the outskirts of the Old Hills, one day to get into the hills and look around the cave area, and one day to get back.

Dirina then has the attendant take Rhogar's remains into the back.   Leigh is interested in witnessing the ceremony, but Dirina explains that it is not allowed.  Merend negotiates for a discount on healing potions, only to realize the group doesn't have the money.   The high priestess goes on to explain that the ritual will take all day, so she will see them that evening.  The group then leaves the temple.

Session 9 - Scene 3 (of 5)

After the temple, the next stop is at Teldorath's Arms.  After reading Grundelmar's note, Teldorath agrees to offer a 20% discount on replacement weapons and armor for Rhogar.  

The group then splits up for the day to perform their own personal duties.  Merend goes back to the shrine of Bahamut to meditate for their journey.  Al and Leigh use their newly-found ritual book to learn the rituals for Corpselight and Silence, respectively.  After deciding pickpocketing wouldn't make enough money (and cause issues with the others in the group if he got caught), Mitka spends the day gambling, earning a few extra gold.

That evening, they arrive back at the temple.  Dirina presents Rhogar to them, clothed in basic temple robes.  While Merend worries they may want the robes back right away, Dirina explains that the robes are included in the cost of the ceremony.
Merend introduces Rhogar to Silas, and explains their mission.  Everyone notices Rhogar isn't quite his old self yet, there are some debilitating effects lingering from being dead.  Dirina explains that the effects will go away in time.

The group then heads back to Teldorath, who is ready with Rhogar's new sword, shield, and armor (along with a new adventurer's kit).  Rhogar feels much better to be fully armored again.  While there, Mitka convinces Silas to loan him some gold so he can buy a hand crossbow.  Sensing it could be useful for the group, Silas agrees.

Merend then decides heading out at night would be a bad idea, so everyone returns to their home for the evening and plans to meet up in the morning.

Session 9 - Scene 4 (of 5)

The first day of travel along the Trade Road is uneventful.  As night approaches, Merend has Mitka scout out a good location for their camp for the night.  He finds an idea spot nestled up against a hillside, providing them with some protection and cover.

That night, all is quiet until the second shift with Mitka and Leigh.  Mitka hears something off in the distance, around 100 yards away or so.  It sounds like the heavy breathing of a large beast.  He alerts Leigh and the two wake everyone up.

Alerted to the presence of something, everyone tries to spot what it could be.  A couple of the group briefly notice a large, red eye peering from around a bend behind a hill a fair distance away.

Merend moves everyone back into a defensive position.  Leigh and Merend can see with their low light vision that a large shape is emerging from behind the hill and cautiously moving towards them.  It appears to be an adult dragon.

As it gets closer, Leigh is able to determine it is a gray dragon.  She knows that gray dragons are avid hunters, live near plains and hills, and can be good, self-interested, or evil.

Suddenly, the dragon calls out to them telling them not to be afraid.  He knows they've spotted them, and he wants to approach them to talk.  Merend plays it by ear as the dragon approaches.

Now right next to the group, the dragon towers over them.  He explains that he finds them "interesting".  He spotted them earlier in the day and moved in at night to get a closer look.

Merend explains they are looking for a group of lost pilgrims traveling in the area.  The dragon responds that he has seen the pilgrims, and that several of them were "most tasty".

Merend isn't exactly surprised, but does wonder aloud why the dragon hasn't attacked them.  The dragon explains that he enjoys the thrill of the hunt, and attacking them at night wouldn't be sporting.  He offers to give them a four hour head start after the break of dawn.

Merend shows his courage by warning the dragon they will kill him if he attacks.  The dragon simply laughs, content that they pose no real threat to him (because, as the group already knows, he could easily kill them all within ten seconds).

Undeterred, Merend attempts to elicit the location of his lair out of the dragon, just in case they kill him, so the treasure won't "go to waste".  The dragon assures Merend that he has hatchlings.  When Merend attempts to provoke him further by suggesting he is scared of the group, the dragon simply turns to a nearby tree and spits out a blast of acid, incinerating the area.

With full bravado, Merend replies nonchalantly that their wizards can do the same thing so he isn't impressed.  The dragon laughs heartily, and Merend's spirit amuses him.  Before leaving, the dragon introduces himself as Nestor.  Merend responses by introducing himself to Nestor.  Nestor then flies away into the clouds, and the group loses sight of him.

Session 9 - Scene 5 (of 5)

After Nestor is out of sight, Merend immediately states the obvious – there is no way the group can take him.  He forces everyone to wait 45 minutes, and then everyone quickly moves out.  He wants to reach the cave as soon as possible to avoid being eaten by the dragon.

Moving along in the night, the group eventually comes upon a few body pieces that appear to be remains of the pilgrims eaten by Nestor.  Merend quickly buries the parts under some rocks while Al grumbles about it being a waste of time.

A couple of hours later, as the sun comes up, they reach the Cave of the Three Brothers.  Outside, they find some hastily abandoned equipment of the pilgrims, so they know the pilgrims must have gone in there.  Merend has the group quickly enter the cave, without his usual caution.  He feels the threat of Nestor is far worse than whatever might be in the cave.

Inside the cave, Merend quickly notices the group has walked straight into a trap.  On a ledge along one side of the cave stands an Ettercap.  And coming straight at the group is the Ettercap's force of spiders – three large deathjump spiders and a swarm of large demonweb spiders.

Al quickly blasts the ettercap with a magic missile.  The deathjump spiders then leap across the cave at Sa-ika and Silas, who are in the lead.  Luckily, they manage to avoid the spiders' attacks.

Mitka takes out his brand new crossbow and fires at one of the spiders, only to miss.  The swarm of demonweb spiders begins slowly advancing from across the room as Leigh blasts the ettercap with another magic missile.
The ettercap responds by covering the group around the area in a giant sticky web, immobilizing everyone except for Mitka and Sa-ika.  Since he can't move into battle, Rhogar trades his sword for his bow.

Al manages to get himself unstuck, but misses the ettercap with a phantom bolt.  Across the room, Sa-ika is overcome with pain as a spider bites into her deeply, and she feels the poison rushing into her veins.  Struggling through the pain, she casts her aegis of shielding on the ettercap and attempts to use a swordburst on the spiders around her, but misses.  Summoning all her might, she tries again, hitting them all.

Merend quickly acts, using his healing word to heal Sa-ika.  Next to her, Silas attempts to strike the spider in front of him with his sword, but misses.  He does, however, manage to get himself unstuck.

Mitka fires off another crossbow bolt at the spider, but fails again to find his mark.  The swarm of demonweb spiders then moves in to attack Merend, covering him with painful, poisonous bites.

On the other side of the cave, Leigh blasts the ettercap with another magic missile.  It responds by throwing a web net on top of her, then stabs Silas with its long spear.

Unstuck now, Rhogar moves in and attacks the swarm.  He quickly finds that his sword is not as useful as he'd like against a swarm of smaller creatures.

Al attempts to take out the ettercap leader with his powerful rolling thunder spell, but the ettercap avoids it.

Sa-ika is then bit by two deathjump spiders.  As their mandibles bite into her, she knows she is in danger of dying and won't last much longer.  Still, she refuses to use her powers to switch places with another.  She'd rather die than put someone else in mortal danger.  She takes a minute to gather a second wind, and shakes off the effects of the poison.

Next to her, Silas is hit as well and is also poisoned.  Merend, weakened himself from poison, decides to help everyone using his beacon of hope spell, simultaneously healing himself, Sa-ika, and Silas while weakening the swarm and the spider attacking Silas.  Digging deep, he summons the extra energy to cast a second healing spell on Sa-ika, returning her to full health, and hands a healing potion to Silas, in case he needs it.

Silas decides to take a step back, and blasts at the spider with a glowing ray of radiant vengeance.  Sadly, the quick spider is able to avoid the blast.

With his hand crossbow ineffective so far, Mitka switches to his sword and uses his handspring attack to move into the spider that was on Silas.  But, as has often been the case, his attack fails to hit.  Frustrated, he follows up with a second strike with his blade, this one slicing into the spider.

Meanwhile, Merend fends off another attack from the swarm while Leigh blasts the ettercap with an acid arrow, with the splash landing on the spider in front of Mitka.  Both are seriously injured by the attack.  The ettercap lashes back at Mitka with his spear, but Sa-ikas Aegis of Shielding protects him.  Al attacks back at the ettercap with a phantom bolt as Mitka is hit by the spider.

Across the cave, Rhogar attempts to lash out at the swarm with his paladin's justice, but fails.  Sa-ika uses her swordburst power to attack all the spiders surrounding her, and manages to hit two of them.

Merend, however, shifts away from the swarm and decides to focus on the ettercap.  Blasting him with a divine flame, Merend kills him.  Nearby, Silas rains down vengeance on the spider in front of Mitka while Mitka himself misses with another of his sword attacks.

Back over at Rhogar, the swarm attempts to attack him but fails.  Leigh responds by blasting the swarm and a nearby deathjump spider with a scorching burst.  It proves to be quite effective against the swarm.  Rhogar, however, isn't as successful with his sword attack.  He decides to follow it up with a blast of his poisonous breath, injuring the swarm and the nearby larger spider.

With the ettercap dead, Al changes his attention to blasting the spider in front of Mitka with a phantom bolt.  The spiders respond by attacking Mitka and Sa-ika, but all miss.  Sa-ika attacks back with a lightning clash, killing the spider in front of Mitka.  Merend wipes out another one with his blast of flame.

Silas moves in to attack the remaining deathjump spider, but misses.  To try and get into flanking position, Mitka attempts to climb up the ledge and move around to the back, but his climbing skills fail him, impeding his progress.

Rhogar is hit again by the spider swarm.  Al attempts to blast it with a phantom bolt, but misses.  As does Sa-ika's swordburst.  Merend's lance of faith attack, however, hits the nearby deathjump spider.  

Empowered by the attack, Silas moves into flanking position to strike the spider, but still manages to miss again.  Merend wonders how the temple ever though Silas could do the mission on his own as Silas summons his strength for a second attack, which hits.

With Silas taking up the flanking position he wanted, Mitka is forced to fight adjacent to him.  He hits the spider with a piercing strike.

Over on the other side, the swarm bites into Sa-ika as Leigh blasts it with another scorching burst while Rhogar misses with another of his attacks.  Al blasts the swarm with his phantom bolt.

Sa-ika is still attacking the remaining deathjump spider, and hits it with a solid attack.  Merend attempts to blast it with his lance of faith again, but misses.  Silas misses as well with his attack, as Mitka performs a fancy feint move to throw off the spider.  Despite this, he still manages to fail with his follow-up attack.

The swarm attempts to attack Rhogar again, but misses him.  Leigh finishes it off with a final scorching burst.  Rhogar is then free to move in and flank the remaining spider.  His powerful attack hits home, killing it.

With the spiders dead, the group quickly locates the surviving pilgrims cocooned up in webs in the back of the cave.  After freeing them, there are 13 survivors in total (with several having been eaten by Nestor, and others used as food by the ettercap).  One of the survivors explains to Merend that Derris was killed by Nestor, along with many of the pilgrims, and they ran to the cave for protection, only to be ambushed by the ettercap.

As the others look around the area, they find a pile of gold near the ettercap's sleeping area.  After confirming it didn't belong to the pilgrims, Merend's consciouss is free to keep it.  Mitka is happy that they can defray some of their costs in resurrecting Rhogar.

Merend then decides what to do next.  Because the hard part is going to be getting everyone out of the area safely while avoiding Nestor.  And he knows Nestor is hunting them...

Session 9 - Session Notes

This session introduced yet another new drop-in player, the guy who played Silas.  Yet again a new player joined without knowing the 4e rules ahead of time, and yet again the new player took like the new rules like a duck to water.  I'm amazed how fast-learning this game is.  The 3e game several years back with most of the same people lasted like 5 or 6 years, and people still didn't understand most of those rules.  With 4e, pretty much everything gets picked up the first session.

I don't mean to keep beating the 4e drum, I'm actually quite surprised its gone so smooth.  This session was the first time we ever really took a min to look up something in the book (regarding flanking), and even that was solved in a couple of minutes.

Anyhow, the Silas character was another of my pregens.  He's named after the monk in The Da Vinci Code (Silas) and the Jesuit, John Ballard, who was executed for his part in the assassination plots against Queen Elizabeth.  I thought it made the perfect name for an Avenger.

Speaking of names, The Cave of the Three Brothers is based on a real semi-famous cave in France (which was also named after 3 sons of a count, Begnaud being one of the spellings).

We half planned out ahead of time that Rhogar wanted to be resurrected and that the group knew they'd need to go on some kind of quest to pay for it.  Because the Krolec was missing this week, I figured the Avenger made a good replacement (a Goliath barbarian was my next choice), and the pilgrimage plot was what I came up with (after several aborted ideas).

The end fight with the ettercap was thought out after I remembered I recently got an ettercap mini in a recent purchase.  The dragon was added when I was thinking up random encounters in the area (I used the charts / rules from the D&D expert edition - Nestor was my "dragon" entry).

Next week may very well get even wilder, as MM2 will be out by then.  Hopefully we can get everyone back together and go back to the cemetery plot.  Still several goodies planned for that.

Session 10 - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven ranger and (in theory) leader of the group
Merend - Dwarven cleric (and effective leader of the group)
Sa-ika - Genasi swordmage
Zena - Human fighter
Rhogar - Recently resurrected dragonborn paladin
Mitka - Halfling rogue
Al Truism - Human wizard
Leigh - Eladrin wizard